Your advice sought on cleaning a vintage shotgun stock. There is plenty of advice out there on the internet on cleaning wood stocks - too many to know which to trust and cosmoline or oil soaked wood are not
issues here. There are many voices on this Forum that I highly respect and I am seeking knowledgable suggestions. I have a H&H hammer gun circa 1880 that is beautifully stocked, but the stock finish is dull. I suppose it is the accumulation of 140+ years of grime and oil. The metal is in great shape and I plan to use an ultrasonic cleaner to address the dullness on those surfaces as has been discussed previously on this Forum. I think that the appearance of the stock will be helped with a gentle cleaning, but I am not sure what to use. I am not interested in a "restoration", but I just think that there is some beautiful stuff waiting to be revealed. I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

wbm

The standard Victorian furniture cleaner/restorer wont do any harm and it works well. It is 1 part vinegar, 1 part raw linseed oil, 1 part turpentine. Shake the bottle well and use a soft cloth but do not over saturate the cloth.

Dear Damascus: White vinager I presume? Thank you for your comments. wbm

In a Birmingham gunsmith shop I saw a demonstration of Brasso being used to clean a gunstock. Hard to believe but it worked, taking off the old grime from the surface. It did not seem to affect the finish.

Don't use Brasso if you think the wood finish may be shellac.
The ammonia content in the Brasso will soften the shellac and you'll have a mess as you try and rub the stock down.

Cheap Ammonia household cleaner is an excellent brush cleaner for shellac use.

I always just used Linseed oil and a small amt of Mineral Spirits to clean old wood finish.
I'll try the addition of a bit of vinegar to the mix.
Thanks for the tip!

Antonio I have used both "White" Vinegar and brown "Malt" Vinegar they each work well, though they do give me the craving for that very Brit dish Fish & Chips with Mushy peas.

To clean any wood surface with no damage to the finish use 100% mineral spirits.

Here is a link to a gentleman, noremf, that was a professional wood restorer. Unfortunately, he passed a couple years ago, put he left a wealth of information on wood restoration.

Wood cleaning.
Art

100% Mineral spirits is fine if you have 100% Poly or other modern Varnish finish on your gun stock, but a traditional Linseed or shellac type of finish will at the best will be removed or softened and at worst your gun stock will look like the surface of the moon. All my working life I have kept these words in the forefront of my mind "Professionals designed, built and sailed, the TITANIC NOAH was just an amateur". food for thought the only difference between an amateur and a professional is a professional gets paid for the work it does not mean it is any better than an AMATEUR'S efforts.

The difference in the outcome of the ark and the Titanic wasn't based upon who built each, but on who designed each of them.

Thanks for the recipe for the stock cleaner, damascus.

SRH

True enough Stan, but remember- the Ark did not 'stop to take on ice, for the fish and goose soire".. RWTF